Tureckie głębokie państwo. Od powstania do upadku

Abstract

This article describes the Turkish Deep State – the reasons for its creation, evolution, characteristics, and then collapse. During the actual research, studies and articles published in the following pages were used: “The Middle East Institute Policy Brief ”, Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich, “Insight Turkey”, Brookings, Politico, and the Institute for the Study of War. A particularly useful source was a study by Mehtap Söyler The Turkish Deep State and a publication edited by Hakan Yaruz and Bayram Balci Turkey’s July 15th Coup. What Happened and Why. According to the author, the deep state in Turkey had a key influence on its domestic and foreign policy from the time the republic was founded until 2016. The heart of the deep state were the armed forces, more specifically, the general staff and specialized military units, such as the gendarmerie intelligence. In addition, this influence extended to other power ministries, such as the police and the judiciary, but also to diplomacy, the civil service, intelligence services and universities. Taking into account the evolution of the “parallel power”, the author proposed to divide the history of the deep state in Turkey into three periods. The first, in which it was built and consolidated, took place in 1889–2002. The second ‒ the deep state dismantling period ‒ took place in 2002–2010. The third covered the years 2010–2016. At that time, the deep state was associated with the Islamists growing in power, namely with the Cemat movement, which successfully infiltrated the structures of the police and the armed forces. This period ended with the failed coup d’état of July 15, 2016, which was tantamount to the final collapse of the deep state.